1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to inspection devices for the inspection of glass containers. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for inspecting glass containers for leaners and chokes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices or gauges exist in the prior art for the inspection of glass containers, generally bottles, for conditions or parameters known as lean and choke. The term "lean" refers to the extent to which the top of the bottle deviates in alignment from its base. The term "choke" refers to the opening in the top portion, or finish, of the bottle. A bottle with either an excessive lean or a restricted opening is defective and must be rejected.
All known prior art choke gauges and most leaner gauges require contact with the bottle being inspected, some such devices also require stopping the bottle. Consequently such devices make the inspection process relatively slow, complex and not ideally suitable for today's high speed glass container production equipment.
Also, leaner gauges are often separate devices from choke gauges therefore requiring the use of two inspection stations to perform these functions. Most prior art inspection for leaners and chokes has therefore been relatively inefficient, costly and slow.
Furthermore, prior art leaner and choke gauges are often of the mechanical type. The former use a fixed ring gauge to check each bottle for excessive lean while the latter use a fixed plug gauge to check for restricted openings. Such devices are not capable of being easily adjusted to alter the amount of allowable lean or choke. Accordingly, there is a need for a single non-contact leaner and choke gauge capable of rapid adjustment of allowable parameters.
A prior art non-contact leaner gauge, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,523, is an apparatus that detects leaners by illuminating the rim of the finish of the bottle and detecting the reflected light. This device is rather complex, requires careful alignment for proper operation, does not provide any information about the amount of the lean and is not capable of being easily adjusted. An adjustable, non-contact leaner gauge has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,549,890. However, this device is also complex, costly and incapable of inspecting for chokes. No prior art choke gauge is known capable of easy adjustment of the extent of choke.
In view of the above it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for detecting leaners and chokes at a single inspection station, without contact with the bottle and without stopping any bottle. It is a further object to provide an apparatus wherein the parameters representative of the lean and choke of defective bottles may be easily adjusted.